How We Got It So Wrong

The family of the late Ohio 11th District Representative Stephanie Tubbs Jones was dealing with the tragedy of losing a mother, sister, friend. Amidst the shock and grief of losing someone so vital comes questions on how the media in total got the story so wrong.

We blew it.

All of us, from the reporters, writers and editors on shift change to the managers -- myself included -- for falling into the trap of counting on the words of many to detail the story of the few. The family kept saying Tubbs Jones, who suffered an aneurysm while driving Tuesday night, was in critical condition but that wasn't good enough for the feed-the-beast mentality that hates a story that follows its own pacing and not that of the march of the news cycle.

All the major outlets, the Associated Press, CNN, Fox, CBS, The Plain Dealer, The Washington Post; all the local outlets who reported what the others were saying when we couldn't confirm with the very sources who weren't speculating but were praying for the best around this political leader struck down in her prime. Their concern was Stephanie as mother and sister, family member and friend, and not just the name attached to the public figure.

In this era of breaking and constant the political machine hundreds of miles away in Washington felt confident to break this most personal of news to a select few, and then the world. First came an email from Speaker Nancy Pelosi informing members of Congress that Tubbs Jones had passed, then the anonymous highly-placed source taking the extra step of confirming (without real attribution, of course) that this woman described often as vivacious was dead at 58.

It seemed so easy for the highest forms of journalism to go with confirmation of death even though that confirmation came not from those on the scene but nameless bureaucrats far away doing their job and peddling a scoop. It was so easy for those of us here at home to quote those in power despite the fact they didn't really have the power of what was right to begin with.

The world reported Stephanie Tubbs Jones passed from this earth after 2:00; The Plain Dealer, then CNN, then the Associated Press without waiting until doctors would speak at 2:30, just minutes later. So important it was to break the story, not because of the impact it would have but because it needed to be broken. Style trumps truth, the form overtakes the function. Governor Strickland issued a statement on her passing; wiser political minds talked of her impact but not of her passing but it wasn't good enough for the hungry news cycle beast that couldn't even wait 20 minutes for reality to step in.

Stephanie Tubbs Jones died at 6:12 p.m. Wednesday but the truth of her passing fell victim just after 2:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time, a victim of a cynical news cycle that couldn't even allow Death his due and Tubbs Jones her passing in dignity.

There will be plenty of apologies, including this one, for poor judgment and worse decision making. Unfortunately, we will move past the loss and past the tributes for an amazing life lived into the next news cycle for the big story still to come that we aren't satisfied to report as it happens. In an age when even newspapers are emboldened to share the breaking news stage with broadcast isn't it time to remind ourselves that our responsibility still rests with the truth? Isn't this the kind of coverage that should leave all in the media feeling even a little uncomfortable about the ethic of allowing life and death decisions to outweigh the trust given to us by our readers, listeners and viewers?

posted from Washington, D.C.

Sports With A Tu-Tu

Up at a really stupid time on a Monday night, as indicated by the time stamp which shows it's really Tuesday and that's what I get for caring about the Browns.

Thank God for my sister Patti, who must live on YouTube to constantly find gems like Paul Hunt to remind me of what sport is really all about. Thanks, sis...

Stuff Slider

Really, stuff the ballot box for Slider. He's earned it -- a chance for mascot immortality, his very own seat in the Mascot Hall of Fame.

Oh ye of little faith in your fellow humankind, there actually IS a Mascot Hall of Fame. According to their own news release they are four years old and casting for new Hall of Famers.

The Indians mascot Slider (pictured at left in all his glory) has been a Tribe fixture for 18 years. I remember when he first came "out" at the old Municipal Stadium, and must admit I was among those horrified over what the Indians had done. I was happy to hear that I was not alone, given Indians VP Bob DiBiasio's discussion earlier this week on WAKR (link here if you want to open the .mp3 in Media Player or Quicktime), but the big pink guy has actually grown on me as well as the rest of Indians fans.

Slider has some serious competition, primariy from Hugo the Hornet -- but I don't think that's likely since Hugo and the Hornets have left New Orleans.


Voting is now underway; it makes sense to stuff the ballot box, especially since it is online and you can vote and vote and vote and vote without having to worry about James Carville spoiling your party with spin. It would be wrong to directly link to the site where you vote, and it would be shocking to encourage multiple balloting.

Hello Donna From Beijing...

My pal Donna Renae used to toil for ABC Newsradio and CNN Radio, skipping across the country covering big and small news. She's got an interesting take on what its like to live in Beijing at this point in time as China puts the best face forward with the world watching not only Michael Phelps play Flipper but just how the most populous Communist nation on earth deals with the free spirit and enterprise of sports.

In the old days this would have been a major undertaking, but today it was a simple as figuring out how to make an international call (hint: just dial 0-1-1 to get the ball rolling, and don't expect the ringing to sound the same) in radio morning drive. Usually the five or six o'clock hour is death but half a world away means 12 hours ahead on the clock so our call before sunrise in Akron actually came at the end of the workday in Beijing.

Donna (seen at left with an honest-to-God walking logo) is out of the j-business but now in the e-business -- as in education, working to help teach english via long-distance web learning in China as well as communications and performing arts in Beijing proper. From home base in Oregon to China may be just a flight over water but it's worlds away in terms of time zones, political underpining and cultural understanding. Donna's spent much of the past two years in China and her eyes sparkle when she talks about the differences, challenges and surprises. I've posted audio on my AkronNewsNow.com blog as well as including this link which should work for Quicktime and Media Player.

Chinese Spin Cycle

Been enjoying the Olympics? Join the crowd -- 30 million viewers alone last night, an absolutely huge number for a summer Tuesday night. Michael Phelps may be making news on the sports pages but it's what the Chinese now admit they did to kick off the world's biggest dance party that really has people talking.

Turns out last Friday night had some Fake. Actually, quite a bit of Fake, and not just where you may have thought.

The trades are alive with the story of how the fireworks really weren't the fireworks people on the ground were watching, thanks largely to digital re-creation. Variety has an excellent rundown on the video magic behind making the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics look too good to be true. Here's what it looked like to people who were really there:

It turns out the world's most populous nation also took liberties in faking a little girl's singing of their national anthem.

She sure was cute and what a voice, but one problem: her cute, not her voice. Lip-synching is really nothing new and who can blame organizers for wanting the best performance possible for a worldwide audience. Who wants Roseanne singing the National Anthem here live? Beijing took it a step past forgetting words or going off-key...they used the better voice over what the Communist state decided was a better face. Even the seven-year old's father was surprised, he says, to see his daughter singing but hearing a different voice.

Ah, no matter. It's television, right?

Akron's Green Party

(adapted from AkronNewsNow.com Letters From the Editor blog; please link to the original for audio)

What a nice opportunity this morning to talk politics with an Akron treasure; Dr. John Green at the University of Akron, and the "party" was getting an hour with him on the air. Jody Miller and I are sitting in for the vacationing Ray Horner this week and while we don't normally agree on politics we do agree it's fun to sit down with a national expert and get his perspective. Dr. John Green fits the bill.

We talked national, with post-revelation of the John Edwards affair to remember (now that he admits it) and the strong likelihood the former North Carolina Senator's political aspirations are now as cold as yesterday's toast, but it is interesting to hear Dr. Green's take on never say never...as well as how this might impact the Obama campaign's wishes of expanding on what Gore and Kerry hoped for but never saw materialize in northeast Ohio during 2000 and 2004.

Also food for thought the one big congressional race to watch in Ohio, and it too may help send a big message to the rest of the nation. While State Rep. John Boccieri and State Senator Kirk Schuring duke it out to fill the seat being left open by the retiring 16th District legend Ralph Regula, it may mean more than just who sits in Washington on behalf of Canton and the region.

This race has some national significance, says Dr. Green, noting he wouldn't be surprised to see both Obama and McCain spend time and resources in the Hall of Fame City heading into November. It could mean the difference between a major shift of real power in Congress -- to the Democrats and veto-proof majorities -- as well as a sea change of the landscape in what used to be automatic for the GOP.

That sound you hear from the overlook is William McKinley spinning...

Obama Takes Page From Taft

Well, not 100% Taft...but something that was a big deal during the Taft Administration, which had the great timing to be in office when Ohio's Bicentennial celebration included painting barns from C to shining C (that would be Cleveland to Cincinnati for those Buckeye-impaired). Now the Obama campaign is getting into the act...

All in all, it's a nice idea since all those barns stand mute these days without Mail Pouch or other tobacco ads -- unless, I'm sure, you are south of Ripley, OH and in the prime of Ohio 'backy country.

The "Barns for Obama" drive (why didn't they go for Barns for Barack...has a nicer sound?) starts in Trumbull County if we are to believe the YouTube video:

Does this mean "Mills for McCain" is close behind? Nope -- those are closed.

Weekends With Nature Girl

Nature Girl loves her weekends because she spends plenty of time in her sanctuary; it's the one place the dog doesn't pester her too much because she usually sleeps with the fountain in the background. Problem is, First Friend Karen lives in the lake country north of Minneapolis and doesn't get to share in the summer joy.

So here you go, Karen -- it's not Whitefish Lake but it does come close, even if we still have to drive two days to get a good hot dish and your big pepper beef stew.

Of course I must point out despite her love of Sanctuary this is the same flower bed and backyard where the Preying Mantis last summer decided to feast at the Monarch buffet...

Shamless KSU Plug

We're not supposed to be organs for advertising (well, in a perfect world, I guess...the truth is everybody in the media likes to eat and you can't live on free donuts in the newsroom forever) but I think I'm good with this one since it's media-related and a Kent State University-Poynter Institute joint production.

Former Akron Beacon Journal Editor Jan Leach, now living the life academe at Franklin Hall, is one of the brains buzzing over the 4th Annual Poynter KSU Media Ethics Workshop. This event on Thursday, September 18 is an all-day deal but includes lunch. "Whose Rules?" seeks to clarify what we all secretly love about the web: nobody's rules, anyone with a computer can pretty much report on what they want to report and comment on what they want to comment.

The common wisdom used to be the "Golden Rule"; whoever has the gold, makes the rules. Now whoever has the CPU the blog, with or without video. It's so easy even my tired old fingers managed to figure out a way to work Google's blogspot for this exercise. It's so easy I even made one for my dog.

Here's the official plug: you can try to email Jan but you'll do better getting more info from Darlene Contrucci dcontruc@kent.edu instead. If you're a student, it's free with advance registration. Otherwise if you breathe other-than-rarified Kent State air you'll need to shell out $50, which again includes food.

Probably not donuts, though. Those Kent and Poynter folks are obsessed with healthy living, even the ones who spend all their time in the Starbucks a quick walk from Franklin Hall.

Is It OK To Call Her A Tart?

I'm not turning into some bluenose but I admit I was taken aback this morning with the Associated Press treatment of the Paris Hilton response to John McCain story. You've probably seen the video by this point...anyone with 20 yards of a television couldn't miss it this morning as Hilton decided to enter the political fray with her own energy plan.

This comes to us after McCain's much-hyped ad attacking Barack Obama as the world's greatest rock star, using images of Hilton and Brittney Spears to make the point.

All of this is wonderful theater in an election that, despite the billing as the most exciting and important in our generation, continues to sink into the same-old same-old. McCain has tire inflation gauges as campaign props; Obama gets plenty of TV time for buying peaches from a Ravenna store.

What depth! No wonder Paris is burning to enter the media swirl usually reserved for future Presidents: it's a natural for one of America's favorite TV targets, a woman who has used her brains to milk her famous (or infamous) public persona for millions.

My question this morning comes in seeing the coverage we get from the AP for AkronNewsNow, using the word "tart" to describe Hilton's response. Witty headline writing usually not seen on the staid AP...even taking advantage to use "tart" again in the first paragraph. I raised a question to one of the world's largest professional news gathering organizations, especially after doing a simple Google search for definitions of "tart":

1. prostitute: a woman who engages in sexual intercourse for money
2. lemony: tasting sour like a lemon
3. a small open pie with a fruit filling
4. a pastry cup with a filling of fruit or custard and no top crust
5. sharp: harsh; "sharp criticism"; "a sharp-worded exchange"; "a tart remark" wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

I don't think Paris is lemony, a small pie, or a pastry cup; and while I think she's pretty sharp (in terms of manipulating the media), I wouldn't characterize her as harsh. So does that mean the AP was snidely calling her a prostitute (see #1, above)?

The folks at AP tell me they think their story was in keeping with today's younger, less stodgy approach expected these days. It fits the "flavor" of the story and besides, it's Paris Hilton -- a woman seen in a sex tape video (old news) and in this video "...reclining in a very sexy bathing suit and spike heels."

YouTube already pulled 'em down, citing copyright issues...but Funnyordie.com has the "exclusive", as you can tell by the tag imposed in the bottom of the embed video:

See more Paris Hilton videos at Funny or Die

Akron's Weekend Hat Trick

Sort of lost in all the hubub Saturday and Sunday was a special moment where Akron-Canton took a hat trick -- featured on the three major Sunday night network news shows or programs, but chances are you missed the one feature that showcased the event most in need of some help.
While CBS-TV was plugging away with Vijay Singh's one-stroke win at the Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone Country Club the folks at NBC-TV were getting ready for some football down the road at Fawcett Stadium and the Hall of Fame Game two hours later.

In both cases we came off looking pretty good: who doesn't love seeing one of the great golf courses in the world? The South Course was in prime condition after a week of the kind of golf weather the sales staff lives for, and Canton sparkled with green field, blue and maroon fans and the occasional gold sport coat reflecting NFL greatness.

Over on ABC-TV, however, was a piece John Berman did the weekend before.

In an age of video games the network thought it was time to harken back to a simple sport where the skill comes from letting gravity do the work. The All-American Soap Box Derby has fallen on some tough times, no doubt about it. With more kids than ever qualified and estimates of three-thousand or so racers and their families calling Derby Downs a temporary home the stands are remarkably roomy. No big corporate sponsor like Bridgestone, nor a major sporting league (NASCAR drove off from the event) backing this family sport.

Chances are you missed the third score of Akron on network TV this past bright and sunny Sunday; chances are you were driving home from watching golf, driving south to watch football or maybe blowing off TV altogether while you and the kids were watching burgers and hot dogs cook on a classic northeast Ohio summer's evening, the kind of night that still makes me think we are the "Best Location in the Nation"...just like Ready Kilowatt used to say on Channel 5 all those years ago.

Defense 101: "I'm Too Fat" To Kill

There are times I think "only in America"...and today's story out of the Richard Cooey saga fits the bill. His defense lawyers now claim being overweight is reason to spare this killer's life.

I remember interviewing Cooey prior to his first trip to the Death Chamber in Lucasville. Even then he was a beefy guy, but I attributed much to muscle from what many inmates take as a daily weight-lifting regimen behind bars. It was my distinct impression, back then, that Cooey could clearly defend himself against anything that came his way while spending time on Death Row.

Anything, including attempts to serve the execution order that has put him away from the public for more than a generation.

Back then, Cooey won a stay from three levels of federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, that gave him the distinction of getting more than one "final meal" while in the cell adjoining Ohio's Death Chamber at the Southern Ohio Correctional Center in Lucasville. Apparently his appetite is now his defense, as his lawyers try to derail a scheduled return trip for another try by the State on October 14th of this year.

The defense in this case has never been about guilt, never about innocence. From the beginning, it has been a death penalty campaign waged by lawyers who cannot point to facts in the case as mitigating factors to spare Richard Wade Cooey his life. Cooey himself admitted to me his defense efforts came simply because he could file.

There's never been much doubt he and a friend murdered Dawn McCreery and Wendy Offredo in 1986; he's been in death penalty lockup ever since, while anti-capital punishment advocates worked the system to the point where even they were removed as his lawyers by an appeals court after running up the tab. His claims that lethal injection itself was "cruel and unusual" failed, so now his 5'7" 270 pound frame poses grounds that killing him isn't right, because executioners will have trouble finding his veins.

I went through gastric bypass surgery; at 6'4" and then-nearly 400 pounds I should have an idea of the pain finding a vein involves, yet the doctors and nurses, medical techs at the hospital, and blood test laboratory workers never seemed to have any trouble that I recall. We have a fellow here at the station who undergoes dialysis treatment three times a week, and he's got a few pounds on Cooey -- yet he still gets his treatments.

I figure there are thousands of patients at AGMC, Summa and even Children's Hospital right here in Akron who could share stories of what a joy it is to have someone find a vein to stick a needle; I'm also imagining not everyone of them is in perfect shape, either. Does that translate to cruel punishment? The courts, for the most part, say no. Now the fat defense...

At what point does cynicism tip the justice scales?

Thank God For Cuyahoga

Whenever one reads the comments pages on AkronNewsNow or the Beacon Journal's stories dealing with politics, one must figure the halls of power along South High represent more a three ring circus than the seat of government. Then our friends to the north step in, and oddly enough Summit County seems like going to church.

Sure, we've had Bill Hartung's trip to the big house, Tim Davis globe-trotting on the public dime, even the good old days of Judge Barbuto stalked down the street by Geraldo. All of that is just local color, though, compared to last week's big raid by hundreds of feds targeting two of the most prominent Democrats in northeast Ohio.

It's important to note Cuyahoga Auditor Frank Russo and Commissioner Dimora are wearing the Big D, since coverage of the Columbus shenanigans during the Taft Administration wore a Big R that was heavy enough to pull down the GOP's generations-long stranglehold on statewide offices. This is tit-for-tat coverage, and it shows all the posturing on which party is dirty is just marketing. Not surprisingly the GOP Chairman is calling for both to resign; not surprisingly we didn't hear the same call when it was the Republicans turn to twist two years ago.

19ActionNews video removed due to autoplay

The Plain Dealer has excellent coverage in Sunday's edition, plus more coverage so you can get a real taste of the political Greek tragedy taking place south of Lakeside. My favorite in the Sunday wrap up: federal Judge Nugent, who spoke glowingly of Russo and Dimora as his friends, and standards for excellence in public service.

That was the Friday before Raid Monday; later in the week he wouldn't comment to the PD, noting he might get the case. Get the case? You've gotta be kidding me; what judge worth his salt who was on the record specifically spouting the virtues of two potential defendants would even suggest they would get the case? Note to the Judge: if ever you had grounds to recuse, your quotes in support of the pre-defendants should apply.

- - -

On a side note: expected though still sad, the passing of former Akron U.S. Congressman John Seiberling. He's best remembered for his co-parenting of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, but also remembered by the over-50 crowd for his Watergate Committee representation and standing up for Akron when Goodyear was under the gun from the British carpetbagger. (photo at left: Seiberling, right, with Morris Udall from National Park Service)

Seiberling was truly Akron royalty, the rarefied families such as Seiberling, O'Neil, Knight, Firestone and Goodrich who were more than just rich but were true empire builders or robber barons, depending on your point of view. Seiberling walked the walk before he even took his first step, born in the family home of Stan Hywet that now stands as tribute to our very own version of the Gilded Age. The federal courthouse in Akron is even named for him, albeit late in life by young Congressman Tim Ryan's efforts. His advocacy for the environment was recognized with a Presidential Citizens Medal Award during the final days of the Clinton Administration.

Those "glory days" make for good reading now but those days are long-gone; those cocktails and lunch meetings at Portage Country Club used to decide the direction Akron would take on the big issues but now the movers and shakers have a less global agenda. Seiberling was one of them by birth, but not by political philosophy and deeds. Anyone watching his work during the 1974 Watergate hearings on impeaching Richard Nixon can see that.

I live on a street named Seiberling, a few miles from the narrow national park that exists largely because of the vision of John F. and Ralph Regula. By the numbers it is one of America's most popular national parks, largely because it has more than 1.5 million people living in less than an hour's drive. It isn't a place people come to visit from far-away places, but that may grow as the word gets out of the ease of access and family-friendly recreation.

It may still remain a secret to plenty of northeast Ohioans who don't venture past Blossom Music Center, or just drive across the giant bridges spanning the Cuyahoga River valley to the north or the canal byways to the south. It is one of the "quality of life" jewels we sometimes take for granted thanks to the foresight of men whose persistence stands as their legacy.

GUEST BLOG: Lindsay's Hot Air

One of the good things about having your own blog is asking friends and co-workers if they want to contribute. Usually that gets a yawn, except in Lindsay McCoy's case where her experience high above Stark County is worth a yarn -- and a slideshow.

by Lindsay McCoy

It was a very early commute to Canton to ride in a hot air balloon, but I was awake and ready to go at 5 a.m. last Friday morning. I spent the whole night thinking about what would happen to me; was I going to fall out of the basket mid-air over the highway?

Well, thankfully I didn't. On my way down 77 South I noticed lights in the dark morning sky and as I got closer, I knew they were balloons that were lighting up. I prayed I wasn't late.

Shortly after I arrived at the Kent State Stark Campus, I was ready to go with Jeff Pestun, a licensed pilot from Zeeland, Michigan The basket went up to my rib cage and I'm about 5'3 ... short and sweet.

First, you lay the balloon fabric across the grass and hold it up so a fan blows air in to give it a rounded shape. Then the hot air is used, just as you get ready to sit the balloon upright. There's only about a few minutes left to jump in. As I we lifted off I was nervous, but the higher up we went the easier it was to get used to. Looking around from about 1,600 feet in the air, the Canton area looked pretty busy with cars everywhere that seemed the size of ants.

It's quiet when you're up that high without an engine. Jeff said "we were one with the wind". It did lack a little breeze up there so I believed him. Our blue and black checkered balloon joined about 23 others in the search for a target.

A competition between the pilots participating in the Balloon Classic Invitational included teams of three, with the team that wins taking home $3,000. It's a nice chunk of change, but then it's divided up between the team members. Some pilots got really technical and had their laptops with them while up in the air to measure the speed and direction of the wind. This looked involved, so I just kept my questions basic.

There are three propane tanks in the basket at a time, he told me. The pattern of the wind determined how often he used the propane to maneuver our direction, speed and height. Balloons usually cost about $10,000, so this is a pricey hobby.

When we landed, he described it would feel like we were jumping off a chair, which is similar to the thud the basket made at we hit the ground near an elementary school.

I was up in the air for about 20 minutes, but it felt like five...what a rush!

Walking 18 With Phil

In between the raindrops Firestone Country Club was a great place to be today; even though the crowds are noticeably down it's still a great way to spend time with friends and a couple guys who really know how to drive.

My camera, I will admit, takes some pretty crappy video (I have GOT to get a new Flip)...that said, however, there's nothing better than standing off to the side and seeing Phil Mickelson knock the cover off the ball from the 18th tee on the South Course.

Walking up and down the verdant fairways was literally a walk in the park, and this final day of practice round means golfers are somewhat more relaxed, more interested in putting the ball on the green where pin placements will be changed over the next four days, and more approachable. It isn't unusual, in fact it's normal to watch golf's best walk over to the ropes and sign some souvenirs and shake some hands. One golfer -- not sure of his name -- actually puffed away on a cigar while taking in the round. He had plenty of company on the other side of the green lines making no-fans land.

By one this afternoon, however, the klaxon call sounded with air horns to signal approaching storms and even lightning. Firestone and the PGA don't mess around, calling everyone in to take shelter. While some of the more foolish (that would be Ray Horner, Nick Accordino and I) tried to evade the rain under a tree the smarter folks had golf umbrellas and rain gear at the ready.

By the way -- it's pretty stupid to stand underneath a tree in the lightning storm. Electricity looks for something tall to zap, and a Firestone that's either a tall light pole holding up a sign or a tree. Either way, a tent is a much better idea.

Tee times start at 8:30 Thursday morning with threesomes heading off both one and ten. We'll have hourly updates on 1590 WAKR beginning at 9:30 through play into Sunday, and reports will also run on 97.5 WONE and 94.9 WQMX over the weekend. We'll also have the reports and even more in-depth coverage on AkronNewsNow.com through the weekend.

No Tiger? It's still a great event!

Of All The Times...

Eric Mansfield does double duty; first, as WKYC's Akron-Canton bureau chief he keeps the home fires burning in the newsroom the the north. He also serves as our fearless leader on PBS 45/49's NewsNight Akron weekly gabfest, so it makes his vacation time this week even harder to cope with.

Before leaving for camping time on the Lake Erie islands, Eric shot a quick note to Jody Miller, Steve Hoffman and I asking that we keep a close eye on things while he was out of the loop but returning Friday.

Turns out this week may have been THE week for Akron looping!

Last night saw Sylvester Small's final school board meeting; it also saw a feisty battle at City Council pitting Mayor Plusquellic against the folks who don't like his Sewers for Schools plan, and neither side seems willing to give an inch at this point with a November ballot issue looming large as the winner take all vote will ultimately decide.

Down at the courthouse trial began for the first of the Summit County jail deputies charged with murder in the death of inmate Mark McCullough; there was also news on a man charged with being a serial rapist stalking the U of A campus. Children's Hospital decided it's OK to discriminate by not hiring smokers (hey, that's perfectly legal!) on health grounds.

Oh, the folks up north in Cuyahoga County have their hands full, too, thanks to the FBI, IRS and I imagine even the EPA swooping down to yank records and evidence from top politicians in an ongoing corruption probe.

Hey, at least it isn't Akron, right?

Gee, and today's huge news came from South Main where Bridgestone-Firestone used a fairly private low-key affair to announce Akron won the Tech Center sweepstakes.

Because Akron's just part of the big Cleveland market it isn't surprising none of the TV stations were there when the message came down but at least Larry States was on hand. Cleveland's TV stations were too busy covering W's visit to Lincoln Electric, where he said nothing fundamentally new but at least their reporters got an easy political story to take a bite out of and look serious in front of Air Force One.

Nice pictures.

Keep this in mind the next time we go off-the-mark on NewsNight talking about how important it really is to have vigorous debate and many voices in our community. Personally, I think sending a reporter and camera to join the herd being spoon-fed by any national political figure is trumped by news a local community will save a thousand high-paying jobs but that's just me.

Oh, while we're at it those little get-togethers called the World Golf Championship and Pro Football Hall Weekend are underway in Akron and Canton this weekend, too.

It's a nice week to be south of 303...

So Much For Prison Lawyers

There's a common assumption that people behind bars have nothing better to do with their time than lift weights, make license plates and office furniture for the state and file lawsuits. Now a former Wadsworth Township man will have to concentrate more time on two out of three.

You may remember the name Steven A. Boszik (at left, photo from ODRC); he was convicted of murdering his wife Carol in 1999, even calling 9-1-1 in panic upon discovering her body in what police (and a jury) determined was almost-Oscar winning acting. He's now serving life in Mansfield, and won't even catch a sniff of a parole hearing until 2022.

Earlier this summer the Ohio Supreme Court ruled Bozsik was a "vexatious litigator", meaning a guy who will file a lawsuit at the drop of a hat. The tag means anytime Bozsik wants to file a lawsuit -- or even sneeze at a courtroom -- he needs permission. Most of his suits have been aimed at local judges and now the Supreme Court has turned down his latest request to sue Judge James Kimbler of Medina County Common Pleas Court:

In re Application of Steven A. Bozsik for Leave to File Original Action in Mandamus

On June 4, 2008, this court found Steven A. Bozsik to be a vexatious litigator under S.Ct.Prac.R. XIV(5)(B). This court further ordered that Bozsik was prohibited from continuing or instituting legal proceedings in this court without first obtaining leave. On July 23, 2008, Bozsik submitted an application for leave to file an original action in mandamus against Hon. James L. Kimbler. Upon review of the proffered filing, the court finds it to be without merit. Accordingly, It is ordered by the court that Steven A. Bozsik’s July, 23, 2008 application for leave is denied. [Cite as 07/28/2008 Case Announcements, 2008-Ohio-3704.]

By my count this is the 19th time Bozsik has gone to the well.

Hopkins: I Can't Help It

Sure this sounds like a broken record from me but why can't CLE work?

Wednesday morning heading to Chicago: two legs of the eight-legged mechanical conveyance chain going from Concourse C to Concourse D are out of commission. These are two escalators going down what seems to be four or five stories worth of descent, two escalators going up from the tunnel to the concourse, and the four moving sidewalks.

I don't think all eight have been working at the same time during any of the eight times so far this year I've used the airport. This week, no exception, with two of the four moving sidewalks broken down on the way out. Coming back home this afternoon they had one working but one was still dead in its tracks and nary a worker to be found.

In fact, the electric cars you sometimes see skittering like waterbugs from one side to the other weren't even manned, and this around 2:00pm when there were plenty of passengers and flights coming and going.

I'd hate to be someone disabled requiring a wheelchair.

Score again for Cleveland making a good impression. With all the marketing going on about "Cleveland +" is anyone at the airport authority paying attention to keeping what many travelers see as their first impression one other than services not working, smoker butts all over the baggage claim exits and just a general, worn out demeanor?

This past year alone I've traveled through Washington Reagan (both the new and old terminals); BWI in Baltimore; Las Vegas International; Atlanta Hartsfield; Tampa; Houston; New York LaGuardia; Akron Canton; Port Columbus, Minneapolis St. Paul, DFW, Chicago Midway, Chicago O'Hare, and Ottawa for business and pleasure.

Even with construction at most of these facilities they still seem to keep things like moving sidewalks, escalators, and elevators in good working order.


Except home.

Notes From Chicago

My first UNITY Convention -- this is where journalists of color hold a convention merging four major associations every four years and while we didn't get the joint Presidential forum as promised (no McCain, Obama Sunday after most are scheduled to leave) it has been a rich experience.

NABJ President Barbara Ciara gave a rousing speech to help kick things off and the dance program featuring cultures representing NABJ, AAJA, NAHJ and NAJA were just spectacular -- check out coverage on the RTNDA website for video, photos and more. Special thanks to RTNDA's Tara Sheehan for the use of the Flip and Melanie Lo for making sense of it all!
One down note from my perspective was Chicago Mayor Richard Daley's welcome address, which he took up as an occasion to give the media a jab. Disappointing to hear those in the audience -- those folks who he was targeting his comments to as well as the "main stream" folks across the hall -- applaud. I'm wondering if Mayors Daley and Plusquellic have a Toastmaster's book they both use with a "beat up the media" chapter, 'cause it sure sounded familiar from the tongue-lashings from South High.

It was fun to get this assignment and RTNDF Chair Bill Roswell of KYW in Philadelphia and I shared a chuckle that it was the radio boys getting the nod to deliver the video. Another sign of the changing times as well as a tip of the hat to Poynter's Al Tompkins who's extensive reporting on the ease of Flip web presentation provided some inspiration.
Even with the dour talk (hard to escape hearing when print and broadcast media get together, especially with job searching on the line) its always uplifting to be around fellow journalists who still share a passion for the basic reason why we got in the business. Thursday night was no exception...

Personal highlight of running into someone you know: the six degrees of fireworks separation on the Michigan Avenue bridge crossing the Chicago River (it's that famous shot right below the Wrigley Building and Tribune Tower) as we ran into Fox Chicago's Andrew Finlayson (also one of our Illinois RTNDA state coordinators). Andrew was just hanging out at the center of the bridge watching the Navy Pier fireworks show, totally unexpected (both the show and Andrew sighting) just after the sun went down Wednesday evening. Great show and fun sharing the moment with a friend-I-didn't-expect to see; he tells me he likes walking home on nice weather nights, just across the river, especially on fireworks nights. A great perk that probably isn't included in the job but memorable in Chicago, and not just for us tourists.

Also ran into Steve Hyvonen, the former WEWS News Director (now in Orlando); former Channel 5 GM and ND John Butte, now running his own talent management agency; Lyn Tolan from WSYX and WBNS's John Cardenas in Columbus; Dan Salamone from WOIO among hundreds of others. Nearly five thousand attendees for this largest collection of journalists under one roof. Very interesting experience for what also seems to be the biggest job fair in the nation for newspeople -- print, broadcast and online.

Random observation: Chicago is a vibrant, exciting city but with only one hotel attached to the giant McCormick Place exhibition hall means many attendees are a shuttle bus away; in my case, along the river at the Sheraton down from the Navy Pier. Buses serving attendees take the McCormick Busway, an out-of-sight buses-only route that runs beneath and adjacent to Grant Park. It's the roadway alongside the Metra commuter rail lines you see when walking in the park to Buckingham Fountain, Soldier Field or the Field Museum. Half of it is underneath the park, parking garages or elevated plazas so it's always fun picking up the legion of cellphone and crackberry users muttering 'can you hear me now?"

Nice sponsorship opportunity for Verizon '“ insert here.

Don't Read This, Mayor!

A warning for The Don before advancing one more letter: I do worry about your health and want to make sure you don't blow too much of a gasket if going further.

OK?

I agree with you.

Sure, you're saying, what's the punch line? There is none, at least when it comes to management of Inventure Place, especially after even more consideration of their assertion Akron just didn't have enough critical mass audience to draw people in to what is now becoming a $38 million dollar middle school.

I guess that's why the Akron, Cleveland and McKinley museums of art are such failures; it totally explains why the Pro Football Hall of Fame can't attract a crowd, why the Great Lakes Science Museum never turns a turnstile and the Rock Hall next door has nothing but flies buzzing around the doors.

That's probably why Zoar and Holmes County live through the year thanks to summertime tourist visitors, and why Dover would be better off taking down those Warther Museum signs as a waste of I-77 space.

Why, there's no reason at all to believe a properly-managed attraction could do any business at all in a region with only a couple million people, not to mention hundreds of school districts in a 22-county area that makes up the northeast Ohio quadrant.

Take a deep breath, Don. We actually agree on something.

How To Invent Money

Consider this part two on moving the Inventor's Hall of Fame to Canal Place; in the strange world of your taxpayers at work the news the Hall's $38 million dollar home has to move to smaller, lower profile digs comes 13 years to the day Inventure Place opened for business.

The time line is depressing to anyone who values a public dollar: millions poured in after millions to keep the doors open and convince northeast Ohioans, at least, to support the middle gear of the Hall of Fame Highway stretching from the Rock Hall in Cleveland to the Pro Football Hall in Canton.

Maybe the problem was both of those Halls could be seen from the interstate, while the only view of Inventure Place was the proliferation of brown-and-white signs that seemed to beg people to stop.

It didn't work.

Launched with much fanfare and attendance hitting a quarter-million as a high, only 40,000 attendance in the final year on South Broadway, all the wind taken out of the concrete-and-sail shaped landmark building that was supposed to illuminate and inform but instead hangs like a millstone long after the mill's closed.

In 1993, Jim Quinn of the Beacon Journal reported (sorry, no link without paid access to their archives): "...Akron is to become the center of a national network of new science education reforms...a national resource for corporate creativity consultants." Mayor Plusquellic was quoted as welcoming the crowd to "...the opening days of the 21st century for Akron...I claim this high ground for our future."

Now-deputy Mayor Dave Lieberth, identified back then as one of the early planners, noted the museum built was pretty much the museum planned. It is ironic to note in the archives that City Council considered two loans at the same time in April 1995: $1.5 million in HUD (federal) money for Inventure Place at the same time they were considering a $2 million HUD loan to help pay to renovate the Cascade Plaza Hotel by a developers group led by David Brennan. Council and the administration just closed to books on a deal to pay back some of the money. Small world, isn't it?

In a 1998 article Quinn reported local officials were hoping to get a shot in the arm from Uncle Sam after Inventure Place showed a $2.4 million dollar deficit for the first year of operation. By 2001 updates were being handled by Beacon Journal staff report bylines, noting U.S. Representative Ralph Regula was working on the fourth year of Inventure Place getting federal money to stay open, at a then-total of $11.5 million dollars.

If we had been Akron, West Virginia instead of Akron, Ohio U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd would have simply moved the U.S. Patent Office to Akron rather than keep in Washington, D.C. but Inventure Place plugged along until closing the Museum and now moving the Hall.

Maybe it is fitting the move comes today not as Beacon Journal front-page news but on a section front, and not even "above the fold" in the newspaper that once held enough sway to demand and get first dibs on publicizing each new class of honorees. Those first black-tie "look at us" celebrations quickly denigrated to the point where even supportive locals blew off taking the time; what once stood as a way to treat inventors like rock stars now represents the equivalent of Eric Clapton playing a weekday gig at a Portage Lakes bar. No longer international in scope, now a program that lives only as a tag-along to Akron schools.

Mayor Plusquellic says this isn't a failure, it's a new beginning and blames management of the Hall and Museum. Looking over the pages of archives from the Beacon Journal offers plenty of backing of his assertion, especially under the acerbic but aptly-named David Fink, who never quite grasped the fact that tending to the home fires mattered. Ask the Rock Hall 45 minutes up the highway, which figured out pretty quickly they needed to be part of the community because that was their only salvation once the trendy fell off.

The Hall folks tell us they are still committed to Akron and that Canal Place will be a better home, especially with the focus on their partnership with Akron public schools.

Some questions some would prefer we not ask:

- the City handed the Hall an "emergency loan" worth more than $6.25 million; at last count about a quarter had been repaid, but we need to find out if that's been repaid or is at least current. It's a good question to ask, especially given the recent history with Akron Thermal, the downtown Radisson Hotel and a handful of other businesses radically behind in their taxes. Would Joe Citizen Taxpayer get the same deal?;

- what is the full utilization of the building going to be? When the Hall moves out in August it leaves behind essentially a $38 million dollar downtown school building -- in a district that already closed Central Hower High a couple blocks to the east and is in the process of building much more efficient schools elsewhere. Now we'll be running school programs in a building that's big enough to house an airplane hangar?;

In the business world stakeholders (those holding stock) wouldn't think kindly on a venture responsible for tying up prime real estate for 13 years and spending a considerable chunk of money ($38 million) to build to wind up as a middle school project.

Should taxpayers be any different?

Adios, Inventors!

Is it just me or are there TONS of questions left around by the departure of the Inventors Hall of Fame from what we used to call Inventure Place?

We spent plenty of taxpayer money on what turns out 13 years later to be such a white elephant; when Akron schools move their programs in the Inventors Hall of Fame and Museum likely becomes, at $38 million dollars to build, the most expensive public school building in the City. No more Central Hower high school a couple blocks to the east but we have a downtown City school campus -- again.

If this type of thing happened to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame & Museum (another Hall critics called a costly mistake at $90 million worth) there would be snickers and screaming; if Canton's Pro Football Hall of Fame closed it's doors there would be tears and outrage. Even if the Warther Museum shuttered in Dover there would be sadness and headlines, but here in Akron the demise of our spot on the "Hall of Fame Highway" merits a below-the-fold mention in the Beacon Journal, on the local section. History buried.

I've got more to add to this later today...

Back to Common Sense

I'm not saying it was right when it went on the air, but I do think a half-million dollar fine for Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction was one of the more foolish things to come out of Uncle Sam and now a federal court agrees.

The real issue, of course, is just what we have a right to expect to see (and not see) on the tube while relaxing at home with the kids. Not everyone wants it to be the "boob tube" or worse, and that little thing called "community standards" is taken pretty seriously. Personally, I find it ironic broadcast television won't replay nor will most newspapers reprint the full breast version of this picture, including myself, although the BBC and British newspapers are already having a field day with it. (photo from the Daily Mail)

Unfortunately, real life doesn't always honor community standards. That other little thing called "free speech" shows up when Bono drops an f-bomb during an awards show, or when a piece of costume gives away, or even more recently when David Carradine (yeah, Kung Fu) let loose with the f on a Chicago television station's live morning show.

When it gets to the point where you can't even interview the Grasshopper without a delay we've got serious thinking to do, and the problem is the Federal Communications Commission and most of our elected officials in DC were pushed into a corner where it was easier to react than think.

Following the wardrobe malfunction on the Super Bowl, every politician worth his/her salt wanted to wrap themselves in the comforting blanket of protecting families from their own TV and radio sets. Public-interest groups now able to generate thousands of complaint letters with prepared email campaigns made the most of this golden opportunity, and vote-hungry political figures found it was easy to launch a tirade on the erosion of American values and slap EVERY expression of four-letter word speech (even a visual boob) with a fine heavy enough to sink a battleship. This'll teach 'em.

Problem: the FCC also had a rich tradition of recognizing the "fleeting expletive" wasn't a purposeful expletive. There are even times when the expletive carries with it meaning intended to illustrate ("Saving Private Ryan", for example, led ABC stations such as Channel 5 in Cleveland to not air this important movie because combat is all about F.) Throw the baby out with the bathwater.

But the Third Circuit Court of Appeals (the federal appeals bench in Philadelphia) has tossed out the heavy fine against CBS instead.

It is more than a win for the network; it recognizes that life isn't always sanitized, that sometimes bad things happen because life isn't scripted and expecting our view of life to come only through a 14-second delay is pretty foolish. It isn't a license to let loose but it is a swing back in the pendulum to help set a baseline on what true community values are, and that includes common sense and speech.

Is Talking Cop Anti-Cop?

Another chapter in the story of Akron's police community relations comes tonight as FOP Lodge 7 -- representing Akron police officers -- helps with a pro-law enforcement rally downtown. This follows last week's march and rally at the Justice Center by residents of the Celina Avenue neighborhood where Jeffrey Stephens, Sr. was shot and killed by police officers over the Independence Day weekend.

It is a great aspect of our society that for every opinion there is at least one opposing opinion, and in this case the opinions of some in the Akron community questioning the actions of the APD will have a counter-point leading up to tonight's City Council meeting. It is unfortunate, however, that the rhetoric on both sides clouds what should be a central question, and that is what the community considers appropriate policing.

The voices who cry "No peace, no justice" seem to employ a deaf ear to considering circumstances of the Stephens and, before that, the Vinson case. Those harshest criticisms seem designed to divide and benefit those screaming the loudest, not thinking the wisest. Conspiracy theories abound in the latter, while cooler heads in the former acknowledge they are at least separate and distinct incidents. Even if the motivation for some community organizers is to use these cases for their own agenda, does it make asking for more of an explanation anti-cop?

On the other side, there are those also using the community outcry to paint their opponents as anti-cop -- a broad brush to use in an open society where it should be natural to ask questions anytime those legally permitted to carry guns for our protection take a life. The Stephens case isn't cut and dried; there are still important questions to ask, especially whether and if Akron's new police auditor Phillip Young has been able to employ the tools available to him to report back to the citizens of Akron.

We should consider the asking a duty; there should be no shame or negative to question the need to pull the trigger. It's one of the controls that makes law enforcement worth our faith, the understanding that those who protect do so with standards understood and embraced by the community. It doesn't help the APD to have a populace suspicious and feeling threatened, nor does it help the community to have a police force paranoid and feeling unsupported.

For the community, there must be transparency in the system to understand why officers take the action they do; for the force, they must have the backing of the citizenry to protect and serve.

Tonight's pro-cop law enforcement can be seen as a reaction to last week's anti-cop rally, and so it escalates with each side getting tit-for-tat while the search for answers is lost in the smoke and shouting. It would be a shame to ignore the core issue while getting lost in the periphery.

When Radio Does TV

One of the more entertaining video sites on the web is from a guy best known for "This is Spinal Tap" and voicing "The Simpsons." Harry Shearer's My Damn Channel, especially when it comes to snippets culled from what we don't see on the screen during TV news shows. It makes me very happy Harry hasn't extended the brand to radio.

In this clip, radio talk show host Laura Ingraham goes off on the set of her Fox TV tryout...one friend in the TV business tells me he felt "itchy" watching this:



My Damn Channel also has Katie Couric outtakes, as well as some amusing items from Dan Rather's hit parade. Good lesson for anyone in broadcasting: if there's a camera and a mic, are you comfortable with everybody watching?

Why We Played It

At noon today we went a bit long on our 1590 WAKR newscast, putting Gov. Mike Huckabee's fill-in for Paul Harvey on delay for six minutes in order to present the full 5:14 audio from the shooting of Officer Joshua Miktarian. Today's noon newscast is the only time we will broadcast the full audio, although the news department will use excerpts during other newscasts on our stations today and tomorrow. It is not graphic but it is disturbing, and some will question why it is necessary.

Here's why we decided to air the dispatch audio.

Tape from the dispatcher's radio log is important not only to show the tenor of what seemed to be a routine traffic stop but also to provide listeners and web visitors more information on this case. There's been quite a bit of talk after the lawyer for the suspect raised self-defense as a possible issue. The dispatch audio doesn't provide answers to exactly what occurred after Miktarian stopped Ashford Thompson for playing loud music and suspicion of driving under the influence, but it does provide a greater sense of timeline in the split-seconds between Miktarian's communication with emergency dispatchers on what should have been routine and the tragedy that followed.

The audio is powerful; some will find it disturbing. Fellow officers race to the scene with sirens clearly heard in the background. The dispatcher and then first police responders to the scene just minutes afterward call out for Miktarian, identified as "45", then note a caller reported hearing an argument and "pops." The discovery of Miktarian alongside his cruiser and radio traffic of "officer down" complete the audio.

There have been many occasions for public debate on the use of 9-1-1 and dispatch audio; currently in Ohio this audio, for the most part, is considered public record. There is little doubt that this audio will be something family and friends of Officer Miktarian will not want to hear, and for that we are truly sorry. However, we feel there is also a compelling reason to air the radio traffic as the public interest in understanding this case, the danger involved every time an officer approaches a vehicle, and the split-seconds between routine and tragic.

Truth isn't found in just a written transcript; it is one reason why law enforcement recognizes the need for audio and video recording including radio dispatch traffic and even dash-cams. Understanding just what happened early Sunday morning, or for that matter in any such case, is more than seeing words on paper. It is important to see and hear with our own eyes and ears, tools we all use to determine truth for ourselves rather than filtered through an "official" version. When the picture (and sound) are given we can trust ourselves to determine truth; all of the senses are important.

The public -- we -- have an investment in how our government responds to our needs, including law enforcement. Acting in the open is often a messy business but in the end the debate makes us stronger by making sure all voices have a chance to be heard. There are many common sense exceptions to what becomes public information, such as protecting children or even our personal medical records but in the cases where our faith in law enforcement is at stake seeing and hearing is believing.

Who Blinked?

Mayor Plusquellic has a knack for trying to out-maneuver his opponents...and today's push from South High Street to put Sewers for Scholarships on the ballot is a classic political move.

There really was little doubt the move by the City Attorney in sending back petitions that would have forced a public vote if City Council went along with the scheme was only buying time. Opponents of the "rush to flush" the project wanted to make sure it didn't move as quickly as most city votes do, so tying it to a public vote slipped a considerable roadblock on the Mayor's road to progress. So while the "scare-erists", as the Mayor describes his opponents, work to correct their paperwork he launches a preemptive strike and moves to put it on the ballot anyway.

Now the real politics begins. Since it is the Mayor's version he's pushing to get on the ballot he'll control the language he hopes will convince Akron voters to go along with his proposal, often called the "Kalamazoo Plan" after the Michigan city that first had the vision or chutzpah to suggest selling off a sewer system to plug an education hole had merit.

When the Mayor formed his special task force to give the idea the once-over there were whispers some had been told to meet quickly and apply the rubber stamp as soon as possible. Now that won't be a criticism, because City Hall is asking voters directly to apply the rubber. It will be interesting to watch this play out in an election year already chock-full of other drama: does Akron's causeway to the classroom make a sexier issue than Obama-McCain, or Pry-Laria?

One has to appreciate the irony when the same political segment that screamed bloody murder when gubernatorial hopeful Ken Blackwell wanted to unload the Turnpike system now wants to unload the pipeline we really can't do without. There's an old joke that goes something like this:

Guy's organs are having a discussion; who is really indispensable?

"I am", says the brain, "because without my thinking we don't know what to do."

"It's me," says the heart, "because without my beating the blood won't move."

"Think again," says the stomach. "Without food all of you would starve and wither away."

Quietly, a voice from the bottom spoke up: "Without my work, wait until you see what backs up. That's why I'm really the most important, because without me you're all full of...."

Point made.

Tragedy in Twinsburg

Another shooting involving local police -- and a young officer with a wife and three-month old daughter is dead.

Twinsburg police are coping with the first-ever loss of an active-duty police officer. During "closing time", just before two o'clock this morning, what should have been a routine traffic stop turned into just what officers fear the most. A suspect is behind bars but the brother/sisterhood in blue is in shock and mourning.

Josh Miktarian was only 33 years old; he grew up in Tallmadge, worked hard to build a pizza franchise business on the side in Sagamore Hills. He joined the Twinsburg police force in 1997, an 11-year veteran in a community where "mean streets" usually applies to cities 20 miles to the north and south. Fellow officers tell us he loved to play guitar with friends in a band. Just part of the story of the man in the picture, the life behind that smile. There is more we will hear in the coming days.

Miktarian's wife Holly and daughter Thea will find overwhelming support from family, friends and a community but never the solace of an answer to fully explain the reason why their husband and father was taken from them because any answer will never be reasonable.

At this point police are still trying to figure out answers themselves; why routine escalated, why the suspect (unnamed as of this post) may have pulled the trigger. At this point we're not sure if drugs or alcohol were in the car, why Miktarian didn't feel the need to use his K-9 companion (left in the cruiser), even if dash-cam video or audio will be of help in trying to fill in the why. The facts -- who, when, where, what, even how --will likely come out in the next few days, but not likely to ever satisfy why.

Midway through July, just barely into summer. An officer in Twinsburg killed in the line of duty; a retired Canton police officer murdered; a police-involved shooting in Akron that left a father of 12 dead. Is this a spell of bad times we are going through or do the bad times reflect something deeper, a change in our society where anger and rage so easily boil over? What triggers people to turn into those who take breath away instead of taking a deep breath ourselves?

Retired Twinsburg officer Tom Austin openly shed tears while talking about his friend Josh, and the changes he's seen over the years, trying to make sense of why people lose it faster or don't even seem to care about holding together.

Cruel and Unusual

Richard Cooey has another date with the Death Chamber in Lucasville, but first the process takes precedence.

As we reported on AkronNewsNow this morning, the Ohio Supreme Court has set Tuesday, October 14, 2008 for Cooey's second trip from an Ohio Death Row to the Southern Ohio Correctional Institution in Lucasville (for the sake of brevity we'll call it a state prison). Back in 2004 Phil Trexler of the Akron Beacon Journal and I were among the local media covering the story, including serving as witnesses to the execution. It didn't happen after three different levels of federal judges -- a circuit judge in Cleveland, the Court of Appeals in Cincinnati and finally the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. issued stay after stay. The final order came down with about an hour and 15 minutes to spare; if the nation's highest court had ordered the lethal injection to go ahead Cooey's last moments would have ended the day of legal wrangling and nearly 20 years waiting for his sentence to be carried out.

Both Phil and I had interviews with Cooey on Death Row, then at the state prison in Mansfield. You can listen to portions of the interview through this link; it was chilling then and still has an impact to hear this man who has spent more time on Death Row than as a free man. At the time he did not dispute his murders of Wendy Offredo and Dawn McCreery in the woods behind Rolling Acres Mall after a night of terrorizing the young women; he asked no forgiveness, neither from God nor his victims nor their families. He didn't even protest that the Death Penalty was too strict for his crime: he was appealing, he told me, because he could. Innocence or legal malpractice weren't the grounds: because someone else was challenging it would be enough.


It worked, if only to give him a four-year postponement of what the McCreery family has pushed for since the 1986 death of their daughter and her friend: final justice. But don't consider October 14th to be written in stone.

There's a new Governor in office, and while Bob Taft swiftly denied any clemency that decision will now rest with Ted Strickland. This Governor, with his background of working with inmates and his faith, has shown he's not a rubber-stamp for opponents of capital punishment. It is hard to imagine he will stray far from the sentence in this case, either. The inmate doesn't really dispute the facts nor the punishment; his lawyers cleverly argued the case should piggyback talk that lethal injection is cruel and unusual punishment, and that was enough to extend another reprieve. There will need to be another hearing to determine if Cooey is worthy of executive clemency, and appeals of other cases may still carry enough weight to trigger another round of federal appeals. If so, the families of the victims will have to continue the wait they've endured for 22 years; when taking a life, society owes it to the process to make sure the process is fully satisfied, but the core question is determining that satisfaction.

I find the argument on "cruel and unusual" a crock. Each day across this country there are millions of individuals who undergo the usual of injection -- for regular blood tests, while in the hospital, even part of a legal system that may need a blood sample for prove or disprove charges. Hardly unusual. If inserting a shunt into one's arm is unusual, ask the thousands who regularly walk into dialysis everyday for life-saving blood cleansing.

As to whether it is cruel? Very few, if any, of those getting stuck think it's a walk in the park. But in searching for a humane way to put animals down society has chosen an swift injection which put them to sleep. In the case of executing men and women who have committed the most heinous of crimes, the argument that being forced to go to sleep while another drug stops the breathing and beating of the heart (a six-minute process, on average by my observation as a witness to three other executions) is not cruel, it is humane.

The case of The People v Richard Wade Cooey has victims all around: Wendy and Dawn, their families and friends, strangers who worried about their daughter's safety because of the case, Cooey's adopted father, an Akron police officer who died of a broken heart. It is hard to imagine Cooey as a victim, especially in listening to his own words to draw the conclusion he doesn't even see himself as a victim but as someone caught who had an opportunity to use the system he despoiled to live another day.

There are plenty of cases involving the death penalty that cry out for time to appeal, time to reconsider, time to examine whether the process was righteous, fair and proper. To say no one innocent ever walked those final steps is incredibly naive, but this is not one of those cases.

The Facts: No Easy Answers

Hours before family and friends prepare to remember a father, husband and neighbor we learn more facts in the death of Jeffrey Stephens Sr. on Saturday morning in Akron.

The facts, as reported this afternoon just after three in the afternoon at the Harold K. Stubbs Justice Center, should be troubling to anyone; nearly two dozen shots fired and striking Stephens after officers reported he made what appeared to be threatening moves to his waistband and ignored orders to stand down. This afternoon police released more details of what happened July 5, 2008; tonight around nine his neighborhood holds a public memorial to remember his life even as the community still tries to find answers in his death.

Two officers now on suspension while this investigation continues, even as APD Chief Mike Matulavich describes the shooting as "justified". There is no doubt calls were made from the Celina Avenue neighborhood complaining about gunshots directed at the Stephens home.

Witnesses, police say, confirm at least one of the officers gave Stephens multiple opportunities to lay down on the ground but for whatever reason that command was either unheard or ignored. The heat of a summer night, fireworks exploding in air celebrating independence of a nation, the focus of a father striving to protect his family from unseen threats -- will we ever know for sure what was going through Jeffrey Stephens' mind as he set out, gun in hand, to put a stop to what he must have felt was some form of domestic terrorist striking at his family, his son, his home?

Contrary to the belief of some these are not the times men and women who serve choose to put on the uniform of a police officer; people who become officers of the law do so for a wide variety of reasons but upholding a sense of order and helping their community live in peace are common to everyone who wears a badge. Confronting angry, confused, or troubled armed persons in the street before dawn's early light is not one of those reasons but it comes with the territory.

For the most part, the warning is enough: when someone wearing a uniform and a badge tells us to get down the best course is to listen, comply, and if we are still in a fighting mood take it through the courts. There are plenty of lawyers who will take those cases. The problem comes when adrenalin is at its highest, when judgment abandons the mind in favor of rage or desire, when decisions made in the comfort of hindsight are instead shoved into a split second. Decisions made in the tick of a clock are rarely made well, and life-threatening situations often end with the wrong call.

This is a tragedy for the Stephens family, whether it was one shot or the 22 fired in blinks of an eye by two officers who's training told them a man standing in the street, upset and carrying a gun early on a holiday morning, was not a good thing. It is a tragedy for Officers Sidoti and Miles, trained to shoot only as a last resort; not trained to shoot to kill, only as a last resort when the decision comes down to shoot or be shot. Kill or be killed is something every officer trains for with hopes they won't have to use that training.

They have family, too; wives, parents and children who know their loved ones sometimes walk meaner streets so they can awake to a kinder world. Don't we all ultimately want the same thing Jeffrey Stephens, Sr. sought when he walked outside the morning of July 5, 2008: to keep his family safe?

84 Hours

It has been 84 hours since something went very wrong on Celina in Akron, leaving a father of 12 shot to death and officers of the Akron Police Department on leave pending results of an investigation. Should it take this long to learn some of the basics?

The lesson left from last year's Vinson shooting was that the APD not talk before it was sure of the facts, and you really can't blame the police brass, the FOP, the Police Auditor, nor even the various city officials who got calls shortly after the incident led to the death of Jeffrey Stephens.

Talk too soon and open yourself up to attack from community sources who imagine the worst from the police, so the best course of action is to not speak at all. Better to let investigative nature take its course, don't interrupt the silence for speculation and don't encourage questions.

Fine advice from an attorney, and a solid course of action for the first 48 hours. But it has been four days now -- Saturday morning, afternoon and evening; all day Sunday, all day Monday and now close of business Tuesday -- without having some of the basic questions on what happened answered.

In many respects this has the potential to become a reverse Vinson; there, speculation was fueled by the facts contained in statements immediately following the shooting. In the Stephens case, the facts are those set forth by eyewitnesses and neighbors not handcuffed by this new don't tell policy.

There are some questions which the department should be able to address by this time, but have been addressed mainly by the Beacon Journal accounts of what happened in the early morning hours of July 5:

- a basic time line of when four officers responded other than a 4:40a call to 9-1-1 and the apparent shooting four minutes later;

- did all of the officers discharge their weapons? A caller noted hearing five shots to begin with and then another "four or five", according to the newspaper's account of 9-1-1 calls;

- was Stephens armed and do officers report he confronted them with a weapon, or failed to drop his weapon? Was his weapon fired?

Caution to avoid the firestorm of controversy that erupted following the Vinson shooting is understandable but four days after the fact Akron's taxpayers -- and both police critics and supporters -- should have a better idea of what happened than sketchy observations from neighbors and skimpy reports from 9-1-1 calls.

Jeffrey Stephens, from all accounts, was a decent man who only left his home on fears his family was under attack. Neighbors speak of him as respectful and someone who was just interested in protecting his children. His life will be remembered by family, friends, neighbors and greater Akron in a memorial service tomorrow evening; it would be appropriate to learn more than what we know now about how and perhaps why he died.

Post Holiday Monday Musing

Maybe it's just me emerging from the post-holiday haze of gunpowder residue from neighbor Joe's fireworks display Friday night but is there something amiss when most people are talking about Sabathia rather than police shooting a father of 12 to death?

With coverage pushed for the most part to the Monday following the holiday, there are still many questions to be answered in the shooting death Saturday morning of 42-year old Jeffrey Stevens and getting to the bottom of just what happened and what went wrong on Celina Avenue.

The Beacon Journal reports over the weekend paint the picture of a man who was worried about his son, reports of gunfire and a summer night filled with fireworks. APD is holding back on statements, unlike the Vinson case this year when early observations turned out to be either wrong or misguided (depending on your own personal bias) and led to hard criticism of the Department. Chief Matulavich tells reporter Larry States there will be no statements until all the facts are in, something City Council President Marco Sommerville is happy to hear.

Whatever happened it's a tragedy, for the Stevens family and for the officers first responding to the call then feeling cause to use their guns. Most accounts back the first story that Stevens was carrying a weapon and that may have played a role in the shooting but we will have to wait and see; community observers of the APD, however, shouldn't be kept in the dark for much longer in hearing and seeing the timeline that led up to Stevens' death.
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As I write this we're an hour away from C.C. Sabathia moving from Pierogi land to Bratwurst paradise. No real surprise, given the Indians horrible performance leading up to the All-Star Break and losing eight in a row to Central Division teams. We were supposed to be going to the World Series in October 2008, but then that's one reason why fans shouldn't pay attention to what the "experts" say in March. Good luck to Sabathia, who likely wasn't going to get a deal done to keep him in Cleveland -- and thanks to some hard thinking by Mark Shapiro in the front office for remembering when we lost Albert Belle, Jim Thome and Manny Ramirez to free agency it didn't net the Tribe even one minor league prospect. At least C.C. has the good sense to help the Indians get something out of his time here other than memories.
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My favorite fun on the web recently is the vanity campaign made possible by an enterprising bunch of webkins who figured out how to personalize your very own write in campaign, complete with TV news report and even a granny with your name tattooed in true "tramp stamp" favor proclaiming she's your biggest fan. My buddy Kevin from Nashville turned me on to this one complete with my name, ready to roll, and you can prank your pals with this. I can't wait to get Jody Miller and Eric Mansfield on the ballot. VERY funny use of "fill-in the blank" technology!

Blowing Our Horn

It's a good day to be working at the Akron Radio Center; back after a two-week hiatus and graced by the news AkronNewsNow.com has won a prestigious national Edward R. Murrow Award for best news website.

You can read more about it here; there's also a link directly to RTNDA, which manages the Murrow Awards. It is quite a coup for a website that started out 20 months ago with a hope and desire to fill a niche in a community that deserves a strong and vibrant media.


That we are recognized with a national Murrow is even more fitting in this year of the "patron saint" of American broadcast journalism; 50 years ago, he challenged us to make radio and TV more than just "wires and lights in a box." This is also the 100th anniversary of his birth.

Akron is in a unique place; less than 40 minutes drive (in most traffic) from Public Square, we tend to fall under the shadow of the bigger Cleveland news market. The "big dog" among newspapers in northeast Ohio pays occasional attention, most of the television and radio outlets based in Cleveland only consider Akron news important when something (or somebody) blows up. That leaves us with the Akron Beacon Journal, struggling in a very turbulent newspaper landscape, broadcast news organizations such as WAKR-WONE-WQMX (the same folks who bring you AkronNewsNow.com) and WKSU-FM, and local talk outlets such as WNIR-FM and WHLO-AM's Matt Patrick Show. In Canton it's just the Repository and WHBC-AM.


We deserve better.


It is a stroke of luck that of the dominant local radio news players in Akron, three (the families of stations WNIR and WAKR, and Kent State's WKSU) have strong local management that not only understands but embraces the greater Akron community. There should be a very real concern that Akron and surrounding communities NOT wind up just another suburb of Cleveland, and a vocal news media covering the stories (or at least trying to...) in our neighborhoods makes a real difference in retaining our identity.

Despite all the talk of regional cooperation, I believe it is also something top of mind at local City Hall offices. Mayor Plusquellic, for example, is using his news conference time tomorrow to help promote a better understanding of Akron's neighborhoods. Big picture for northeast Ohio is one thing; keeping the home fires burning is another.

We are proud of the recognition with a national Edward R. Murrow Award, a testament to the vision and financial support of our ownership led by Thom Mandel and Nick Anthony. They have a long history of putting their spirit and money behind their belief in Akron being a good place to live, work, and build for their families. Without that support our voices painting the picture of home, occasionally challenging the people in power, wouldn't be heard.


Competition for ideas leads to debate, not a bad thing for a community deserving of its own place in the landscape.